


Here We Are In The Future

by BubuBORG



Series: Team Medi: Fight the Future [1]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Discovery, TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms
Genre: 32nd Century, Alternate Universe - Star Trek Fusion, Discovery Season 3, Gen, Team Medi Universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-01-04 21:17:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21204236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BubuBORG/pseuds/BubuBORG
Summary: Young Anborn ponders his dismal future when he receives a visit from a grey stranger who gives him a new perspective.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Historian's Note: This takes place in the far-flung 32nd Century from the upcoming 3rd Season of Star Trek: Discovery. I found the opportunity to advance the story into that distant future too good to pass up, so I'm introducing these new characters.

On any good day in Arda, the sky would be clear with puffy white clouds, the sun would be warm, and the wind would smell sweet. 

From the shore, where hobbyists would practice their sailboating on graceful pontoons, to the Misty Mountains, where snow sport could occur nearly year round, to the Greenwood, where hikers would attempt to cross the entire length of its trails.To the greenery of Mordor, where geothermal wonders and megafauna attracted nature-lovers.To the arid beauty of Rhun and Umbar, and, of course, Minos Giliath, the megalopolis that dominated the continent. 

There were the days, grandfathers said, when Greyfeather would visit, however.On those days, the air was thick with portent, and people would feel the need to mind their Ps and Qs without even knowing why. 

The things that were told about Greyfeather!Some said that he was not truly a man, but a bird in disguise.That he was a sentient tornado from the plains of a distant world.That he was a ghost set to wander the universe.

And that was just on Arda alone.

And so it was, in the spring of the year 826 of the Fourth Age of Arda, that the Air grew heavy once more. 

On a pleasant lake on the outskirts of Minos Giliath, a young man stared up at a twinkle which persisted throughout the day. 

The ancient orbital city of Gondolin always appeared above the mountain range toward the Tower, Anborn thought.He hadn’t visited it since he was in school on a field trip, but it was ever present here on the surface. 

He hadn’t come to Beregond’s Lake to ponder a space station kilometers away, however. 

“And why are you idling by the lake, on a day like this?” a voice asked him.

Anborn turned his face up to find a man staring down at him.His face was weathered, and his well-considered beard was grey, as was the hair on his head.He wore a dark blue outfit with gold trim, and he carried what looked like a walking stick or cane. 

“I—“Anborn stammered.His dark complexion absorbed the sun, but his eyes were bright and keen.“I just wanted some peace and quiet…why are you talking to me?”Anborn got up and stood up straight, which put him half a head shorter than the stranger. 

“I’m here because someone is supposed to be coronated within the next day or so,” the stranger replied.“New King of Gondor, or so they say.”

“Yeah,” Anborn sighed.“It might happen.”

“You don’t sound so sure,” the stranger replied.“Shouldn’t you be asking who I am?”

Anborn glanced at the man, who scrutinized the youth with bright, eagle-eyes.“Are you Greyfeather?”

He smiled and nodded.

“Did my mother send you to fetch me back to the Tower?” Anborn asked.

“Not specifically,” Greyfeather denied. 

“Because I’ll head back when I’m…when I’m _damn_ good and ready,” Anborn said, feeling emboldened.

“Well…all right then,” Greyfeather said, and sat down next to Anborn, cross legged, looking out toward the Lake.

“Wh—what are you doing?” Anborn demanded.

“I don’t have anything better to do,” Greyfeather said.“And I very rarely give myself the luxury to sit down and just…be.”

“What are you?” Anborn asked, mostly to himself.

Greyfeather just gave him an amused look and stared off.

“I…” Anborn sighed.“I’m just not ready.I’ve never been anywhere but this planet and everything…everything is out there.When they put that crown on my head, It’s all over.”

“You feel deprived of a few errantries, is that it?” Greyfeather asked.

“Yeah…errantries!” Anborn exclaimed, gesturing with his hands.“All I’ve ever done is study up in that Tower over there and learn about my history and heritage and…It’s all garbage if I can’t do anything with it.Who am I going to meet when I’m crowned King but other boring dignitaries who’ve never done anything?”

“You can still be crowned King and be able to make a difference in the universe,” Greyfeather countered.“Remember the blood in your veins.Aragorn II…Eldarion VI, even going back to Old Adam, twelve hundred years ago.Even a few of your namesakes had some interesting adventures,” he added with a wink.

“Well, I don’t know.I’ll just be Anborn XIV after tomorrow,” Anborn grumbled.

“Anborn _XV_!” Greyfeather protested. 

Anborn said nothing.Greyfeather looked intently at him.

“Have your tutors ever discussed the Occurrence of Three?” Greyfeather asked.

“Officially, no,” Anborn replied.“But Mother’s talked about those times, centuries ago, when our ancestors would have two other allies and the three of them would be unstoppable.”

“For example?” Greyfeather pressed.

“That’s easy,” Anborn replied.“Aragorn II, with the Elf Legolas and the Dwarf Gimli.The Three Hunters.”

“That’s…a valid example,” Greyfeather conceded.“I was thinking something more along the lines of, say…”

“Casey I with Remius of Romulus and Ardan of Cardassia!” Anborn exclaimed, and looked self-satisfied until he saw Greyfeather’s smile fade, his eyes grew pensive.“What?”

“Ah,” Greyfeather blinked a few times and moved to get up.“Help me up, won’t you?”

Anborn complied and got the older man to his feet.“I meant it, you know,” he told Greyfeather.”“I’ll head in whenever I—“

“Whenever you can get the courage to face the music,” Greyfeather finished for him.“Fine.However, if you’re serious about pursuing your…errantries…here’s a little something for you to consider.”

He handed Anborn a badge slightly smaller than the palm of his hand.It was pewter in color, with silver and red enamel highlights.On its face was a stylized Great Tree.

“That…that looks like…” Anborn scrutinized it for a moment.“Is this a…?”

He looked up to face Greyfeather, but he was gone.

Up above, an eagle cried as it circled up above once, and then flew away. 

He looked down at the talisman that Greyfeather had handed him and he knew what it meant.

Something bigger was waiting for him out there.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Orfeus finishes his tour on Planet Fence, and finds a young runaway.

The crowd was awful fine, fine, _fine_.

The band played the set as well as they had over the last few months of the tour.

A tour that had taken Orfeus across most of the galaxy at that point. 

But he always had a soft spot for Fence.

These days, his muse was taking him to the bluesy places, the jaded places where artists were tired but still loved their art. 

The galaxy felt tired, herself, he thought.The hidden places not so much hidden, but simply…ignored. 

Crossing the spaces in the galaxy that once…hundreds of years ago…was part of a great and shining union of worlds.

Orfeus’ grandmother once told him legends of the Federation, how it came to be, and the struggles it underwent to stay united and strong. 

Throughout the tour, he strained to see the signs of the old Federation, From Bajor, to Cain, to the Andorian Warlands, to the area he was now:

The Neo-Numenorean Triangle.

Fence always occupied a modest place in the area, a residence for those who wanted their activities left off the grid.It had been that way for over a thousand years, with no sign of ending anytime soon.

It gave the place just the touch Orfeus wanted.

The crowd was rowdy but into his music, which was always a fine line to skate.A nice mix of folks from the Triangle— Acamarian Gatherers, Barolian merchants, and the various Free Peoples of Arda.Up front, a trio of Khazad, their faces nearly obscured by their voluminous beards, hair and helms, whooped it up to the beat of his final number, flagons of ale sloshing around them. 

With the final hit from the band, the stage lights went out, and the roar from the crowd washed over Orfeus like white noise.

No drug ever came close to that feeling, he thought.

As the crew gathered up the equipment Orfeus took a moment to allow himself something from the bar. 

No surprise there, the bartender was a Ferengi.

“What’s your pleasure?” he asked with the typical Ferengi lisp.“Got drinks from all over the Triangle here, if you’re interested.

“That so?” Orfeus said, his ears leaning back.His Cainian heritage gave him long ears, velvety on the outside and tender on the inside.His spare leather vest revealed a physique covered in silvery-white fur. 

Orfeus thought for a moment, then turned back to the barkeep.“Do you have any craft beer from…the Green Dragon?”

“Ahhh,” The bartender said, and turned to the racks of bottles and kegs behind him.“A fan of the ol’ ale, are we?”

“I mean, they talk about it from here all the way to Iscandar, don’t they?” Orfeus quipped.

“Hey, good taste is good taste.Take a pint?” the Ferengi asked.

Orfeus gestured in front of himself.“Lemme have it.”

The barkeep complied, and a small mug was soon in front of him, with an impressive head of foam.Orfeus downed it in one, and wiped his mouth in nearly one motion.

“Put in on the company tab,” he told the barkeep.“That goes for the band and crew as well.”

“Yeah, right,” the Ferengi said.“_What_ band and crew?Your tour ended after your last set, buddy.You’re a party of one now.”

Orfeus shrugged.“Ya got me.” He produced a slip of latinum and plopped it on the bar counter.

The Ferengi eyed it, placing it in his hand.“Hmm…legal tender… but just barely,” he grumbled. 

Orfeus sighed, and swiveled on the stool, inadvertently brushing his leg against the occupant of the adjacent stool

“Sorry, friend—“

Orfeus glanced at a young man—possibly _too_ young to be in a place like that—slumped on the stool, nursing what seemed to be a rather tame soft drink before him.His expression was one Orfeus knew too well.

“Hey.You okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” was the curt answer.The young man was dressed in a dark jacket, with no visible symbols indicating an origin.He had a dark complexion with hair piled high on his head, with a white streak issuing from the right side of his temple.His eyes were a clear blue, which darted from Orfeus to his feet.

“You don’t look like you come to these places very often,” Orfeus pressed, then joked.“I don’t suppose you came to see me, did ya?”

The kid’s eyes widened.“I mean, you were really good—_really_—but, um.No.” 

Orfeus chuckled.“That’s okay.”He got ready to shove off the barstool when he glanced back at the kid, looking as lost as he could be.“Kid?” he asked.“Do you have a place to stay?”

“Of _course_ I do!” he retorted, indignantly.“Why do you even care?”

“Because I remember when I first ran away from home,” Orfeus replied.“I probably looked as lost as you do now.”

From behind the bar, the Ferengi bellowed out into the tavern.“LAST CALL!”

Orfeus glanced from the barkeep back to the kid.“My name’s Orfeus,” he said, extending his hand.

The kid took it.“Anborn,” he said.“Anborn Telcontar.”

“All right,” Orfeus said, grinning.“Now we aren’t strangers.Let’s get out of here, and you can tell me what you’re doing here.Maybe I can help.”

Anborn looked like he was measuring his options for a moment, then hopped off his barstool.“All right.But no tricks.I-I’m armed…”

“Now, now,” Orfeus put up his hands as they walked to the exit.“No need for weapons talk.We’re gonna be friends.You’ll see.”

They left the tavern together.As the ferengi moved to lock up the tavern behind them, a shadow of a figure reared their head from around the corner, and moved to follow them down the narrow street.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Orfeus and Anborn work out their next move.

Orfeus walked into Anborn’s sleeping room looking around as Anborn took off his dark jacket and threw it onto a nearby chair.He flopped onto the bed and slumped. 

But not before Orfeus noticed the badge on the boy’s chest.

“That, um…That looks kind of official,” he said to Anborn indicating his own chest.

“Oh…not really,” Anborn demurred.“Just something someone gave me.”

Orfeus wasn’t convinced. 

“So,” he said, changing his tack slightly.“Where are you headed?”

Anborn sighed.“That’s the thing.I thought I’d figure out where to go next but…everything’s so different from what I read about.I was hoping to find some…I dunno.”

Orfeus sat down in the chair, putting Anborn’s jacket aside.He leaned forward.“Go on.”

“The stories always talk about the El—The Quendi.They don’t live on Arda anym—“His mouth clamped shut, his eyes wide. 

Orfeus smiled.“Is, uh…Is that where you’re from?”

Busted. 

Anborn turned away from Orfeus.“Yeah.”

“Well, why didn’t you say so?I’ve been there once or twice,” Orfeus offered.“And the Quendi…well…you see them every once in a while, but they’re pretty well scattered throughout the Local Group, so even seeing one’s kind of a lark.”

“Oh.”Anborn lifted his head up to face Orfeus.“I didn’t know that.I just assumed they were closely, in the Triangle, or…”

“I mean, they say there’s a place where lots of them went…what was it called?” Orfeus tried to remember one of the old legends his grandmother imparted to him. 

“The Straight Road to Aman,” Anborn mumbled. 

“Which could literally be anywhere,” Orfeus said.“In this galaxy, maybe even Andromeda or M33 or who knows where.”

“Nobody leaves the galaxy anymore,” Anborn sighed.“That’s what my grandfather told me.Not for centuries. Lots of my ancestors did.On the _Frontier_.”

Orfeus nodded.“They say lots of my ancestors left on the Galaxy.But that was long ago, during the Temporal Civil War.”

“Right.”

“So what’s left for you, if you can’t find the Elves?” Orfeus asked. 

Anborn pursed his lips and sat up.“The Line of Durin.”

“Oh.Okay!” Orfeus nodded.“Hey, I had a few Khazad roadies with me on the tour, I can probably get us to the smaller asteroid fields—“

“No.”Anborn shook his head.“It has to be the Great Hall of King Muki.”

“New Erebor?!” Orfeus exclaimed.“My young friend, they barely allow outsiders in the smaller planetoids, much less the big ones like the Throneworld—“

“They’ll let _me_ in,” Anborn said, with confidence. 

“Okay, you need to come clean with me,” Orfeus said, throwing his hands up.“Who the hell are you?”

Anborn sat up on the side of the bed, the badge on his chest prominent once more. Orfeus could now see the symbol which looked like a stylized, if bare, tree with three stars above it.

“I told you, my name is Anborn Telcontar,” he said.“And…If I hadn’t ran away, I would probably be the King of Gondor right now.”

Orfeus got up out of the chair and put a hand to his forehead.“Um…” he mumbled, shaking his head.“What?!”

“You don’t have to believe me, but you _did_ ask,” Anborn said.

“Why are you out here if you’re supposed to be crowned King, kid?” Orfeus exclaimed.“Do you realize how much trouble you could get in if something were to happen to you?”he paused a moment and added, “Or anyone around you?”

“I…” Anborn stammered.“It was the old man, he was very persuasive.”

“An old man?” Orfeus was ready to walk out the door.This kid was heading for trouble.And trouble for him, as well.

“Yeah, you know…Greyfeather.”

Orfeus rolled his eyes.“Greyfeather isn’t real, kid.They made him up to make kids behave.My Grampi told me Greyfeather was gonna take me away with him if I didn’t pick up my toys—come on!”

Anborn lay back on the bed.“Maybe you’re right.”

“So,” Orfeus said, circling the bed.“Are we taking you to New Erebor, or are we taking you home?”

Anborn frowned, and sat back up.He turned to Orfeus and asked, “Will you come with me to New Erebor?What’s the worst that can happen?They turn us away and I go home, and the Queen Mother locks me away until I’m thirty.”

This pricked Orfeus’ ears.“Think I’d get a reward if I brought you in?”

“Are you a musician or are you a bounty hunter?” Anborn retorted.

“Musicians need more than inspiration,” Orfeus replied.

“That’s fair,” Anborn said. 

“Well,” Orfeus sighed.“I can probably convince Dani and Mani to take us.They have a slipstream ship and we can get there within the week.”

Anborn sheepishly glanced at Orfeus.“Thank you.”

“Well,” Orfeus tossed back with a smirk.“It’s been a while since I had younger siblings to take care of.”He looked very serious as he added, “I don’t like seeing anyone lost and alone.”

I’ll make it up to you—I promise!” Anborn blurted out.

“Fine, fine…go ahead and get some sleep,” Orfeus replied.

“Um…” Anborn began.He indicated the one bed.“I guess, if you need to, we can share.”

Orfeus chuckled and waved him off.“I got my own room, kid.But thanks.”He moved toward the door which opened at his presence.“Sleep tight, and meet me at the Sini*Star.The hangars are nearby.”

“All right.”

With that, Orfeus walked out into the hallway of the hostel and down into the street.

By this time, it had gotten late, and even for Fence, things had gotten quiet, and cold.

He moved quickly down the street to his own sleeping room, hoping that crime was at an ebb. 

Which is why he wasn’t completely surprised when he was ambushed.

He was slammed into a building wall by a force he never saw coming, forcing the breath out of his lungs.He struggled to inhale, doubling over from the strain, while the unknown assailant held him hard against the wall.

“Listen well,” the dark, raspy, but unmistakably feminine voice growled into his ear.“He is the King of Gondor, and not for a mere troubadour to dally with.If you cause him harm, your life is forfeit.”

With that, Orfeus was released, leaving him to slump to his knees as he tried to catch his breath.“Wait,” he rasped, but whoever it was who attacked him was gone.

Without a trace.

He growled as he got back to his feet. “_Rrrgh_…this kid isn’t worth it.”

But then he sighed as he realized that he all but made a promise.

And if that mystery woman was a threat to Anborn…well, someone needed to be on the kid’s side.

**

Fence didn’t have sunrises.

The planetoid was mostly contained within a series of life-support field and pressure domes across its surface.As such, there wasn’t enough atmoshphere for the light from the Artificial Sun beyond to scatter into warm colors in the morning.

As such, Anborn couldn’t shake his sleepiness as he headed out toward the Sini*Star.The building was alleged to be two thousand years old, with an adobe facade that was still dark, the tavern still unopened. 

However, the hangars which adjoined it were bustling all the same. 

He found himself dodging left and right as pilots and crew were moving around him, unconcerned about his personal space. 

“Hey!”

Anborn thought he heard Orfeus’s voice and turned left and right. 

“Anborn, stay right there!”

Anborn put his hands at his sides and looked up at the ship interred in the large hangar.It wasn’t particularly large; It looked to be about a hundred meters long, thirty meters tall,with two primary hulls balanced on top of a oblate secondary hull, with its slipstream engines tucked into the rear. 

Orfeus trotted up to him and pointed at the ship. 

“Is this it?” Anborn asked. 

Orfeus nodded.“Yup.This is the _Aegis Upon Time_.”

“It’s a very…interesting design,” Anborn said.“Why is there…”

“It’s so that I don’t have to share a bathroom with him,” a voice said, from Anborn’s right and slightly below.

A tattooed, mischievous face peered up at him, grinning.His head was shaven, revealing even more intricate tattoo designs in the distinctive Khazad fashion.

“And,” another voice on Anborn’s left added, “So that I don’t have to pick up after him as well.”

The other dwarf’s face was free of ink, but his hair was braided intricately in rows down his scalp, and his beard was similarly braided as well, a curtain with each strand capped with a golden bead.

“Anborn, this is Mani,” Orfeus introduced the dwarf on his left, “And Dani”

“At your service, an’ all that,” Dani said. 

“And yours and your family’s,” Anborn replied, bowing low.

“Knowledgable at a young age,” Mani remarked.“Maybe he really is the Heir.”

“I am!” Anborn exclaimed, indignantly.

“Better hope so, or you’re never getting into the Throneworld,” Dani muttered.“And if you’re really not, they’ll keep us out for fifty years if we’re not careful.”

“An’ don’t you forget our deal, chum,” Mani leveled at Orfeus.“If there’s a reward for gettin’ him home, we get a cut.”

Anborn threw an amused glance at Orfeus.“I’m literally made of money, am I?” he said.

“You sure are,” Dani replied.“Let’s get you onboard and secured so we can head out.”

The two dwarves gestured with their hand and disappeared in a transport beam.Orfeus shrugged and turned to Anborn.

“Last chance to go home,” he told the youngster.“Get you back in time for your coronation, and you can pay us off, none the worse for wear.”

Anborn sighed.“No.This is where my errantries begin.”

As he said it, Orfeus thought he caught a flash in a dark corner of the hangar, a pair of eyes keenly focused on them both. 

Whether she was a threat to the boy or not, Orfeus thought, He was locked into Anborn’s decision now.

No turning back now.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A socialite who goes by the name “Ess” has arrived for the coronation of the King of Gondor...only to find the kingdom in disarray by his absence. A meeting with the Queen Mother gives Ess a mission that will send her off to fetch the King in exile.

Some people just made their way around the galaxy much easier than others.

And a coronation on a planet such as Arda would invite the rarified social scene from all across the quadrant.Vestigial nobility from nearby and faraway worlds began to fill the hospitality sector of Minos Giliath, despite one glaring omission.

There was currently no one to be crowned at the moment.

So when one of the more anticipated visitors arrived, and found that the reception was a little reserved and skittish, it piqued her curiosity.

Not a petite woman, she carried herself with oversized confidence, draped in a diaphanous blouse and a smart pair of trousers which showed off her extremely stylish shoes.Her hair was coiffed with almost weaponized precision.

“Can we take your luggage, ma’am?” a concierge asked as she strode into the hotel room in the Denethor Tower. 

“Be my guest,” she replied.That’s what they were there for, even if she didn’t particularly need their assistance.It was good to be useful, after all.

They quickly high-stepped her bags away from her, not quite making eye contact as they did.The personal concierge who was assigned to her needs looked nervous, and seemed to be walking on eggshells as he described his services to her.

She stopped him in mid speech.“Excuse me.”

“Ma’am?” he replied.Sweat was visible on his brow.

“You seem a little more stressed than necessary.I’m really not as high maintenance as you seem to think.Really.”

He sighed.“It’s just…wait.Nobody told you?”

She frowned.“Told me what?”

The concierge took a step back.“Prince Anborn…has been missing for almost three days.The coronation has not been cancelled, but it all but has been called.We’ve been trying to accommodate all the guests during this inconvenience, but…tensions have been rather high.”

She pursed her lips together and cocked her head to the side.“Huh.I wonder why Cassie didn’t let the guests know.”

“From all reports from the Tower, Queen Cassalia has been too focused on finding the Prince to consider cancelling.For the time being,” he amended.

She nodded.“I should probably try to talk to her,” she said to herself.

“She’s not seeing anyone outside the inner circle of the royal court,” the concierge countered with a shake of his head. 

“She’ll talk to me,” she asserted. 

“Madam Est—“ The concierge began before she held her hand up.

“Please.Just call me S.”

“Ess?” the concierge asked.

Ess smiled.“Close enough.”

In fact, the White Tower was not seeing any visitors that day.

But Ess had ways to getting her messages across.

While the megalopolis of Minos Giliath (and the planet in general) was awash in confusion and more than mild scandal, several figures were smuggled into the hotel through restricted back ways, constructed ages ago by those who originally expanded the city from its ancient sources in Gondor. 

Ess met the bell at the door, to find herself with an royal official, in white and silver regalia, the standard of Gondor on his lapels. 

“Do you submit to the presence of the Queen Mother Cassalia? He demanded.

“Of course,” Ess replied, smiling, as the official put his hands out.

“Make way for Her Grace, the Queen Mother Cassalia of Gondor, Regess of the Throne of His Majesty the King Anborn XIV.”

Ess stepped back as the coterie swarmed into her room, and a rather embarrassed-looking Cassalia walked through, wearing a modest outfit, her hair tied back without much ornamentation.

“Cassie—“ Ess began.

“I’m so sorry about all this,” the Queen sighed.“They wouldn’t let me out of their sight in light of all this.And to be honest, I can’t blame them.Ess,” she took the larger woman’s hands in her own.“I’ve known your family all my life.We go back a long way.So I need to ask you—beg you—please help me find my son.”

Ess patted Cassalia’s hand, and stepped back.“It’s a little out of my wheelhouse,” she admitted.“You want a professional socialite, I’m your woman.Professional bounty hunter?Not so much.”

Everything was under control until the day before the coronation,” Cassalia admitted.“Then the wind changed, and suddenly Anborn was...gone.I don’t even know how he got off the planet!”

“What do you mean, ‘the wind changed’?” Ess asked.

Cassalia moved to sit down on a chair in Ess’s suite.Two attendants moved immediately to flank her, as she glared at them with annoyance.“No!” She snapped at them.“Shoo, shoo!”

Ess moved to the Queen’s defense.“Better to give her some air, gentlemen,” she suggested, still keeping her own respectable distance.

The attendants, chastised, retreated back toward the door.

Cassalia put her hand to her bowed head.“They mean well, but I’m having enough trouble keeping a clear head.I just want him home and safe.I should have listened to him when he said he wasn’t ready to sit on the Throne.”

“Well,” Ess asked, “What did he say?”

“He said he wasn’t ready to sit down.He wanted to see the galaxy with a young man’s eyes...said something about errantries.”

Ess frowned. “What’s that mean?”

“It’s a lost tradition of Kings of Gondor that before they ascend, they must make rounds and perform deeds worthy of their line.The legend is that, a thousand years ago, Aragorn II roamed all over this land under assumed names as a Ranger, even getting as far as the edges of the Alpha Quadrant.”She smiled faintly, shaking her head.“Anborn always was a bit of a romantic for ancient history.”

“That was a different galaxy, then,” Ess said.“Before the Burn.”

“Stubbornness also runs in the line of Isildur,” Cassalia reminded Ess.

She chuckled.“Quite so.He might not come willingly.What if he doesn’t want to return?What if he...” she moved in, and spoke lower, out of the range of the attendants.“What are you going to do if he decides to abdicate?”

“Then it’s back to the ancient tradition of the Stewards to assume to role.And of course the World Council will have to shift gears and new elections and...” Cassalia sighed.“That boy is giving an entire planet a headache.”

“It sounds like you don’t really care about all of that,” Ess remarked.

“I just want to know that he’s safe.And it’s not safe...out there,” Cassalia said, nodding.

Ess exhaled and slumped her shoulders.“All right.I’ll find him.If nothing else I’ll make sure he’s safe.You haven’t sent anyone else after him?”

Now it was Cass’s turn to lean in.“Frida of the Guard is tailing him.But she hasn’t called back yet.It might be too soon.My next message to her will be to expect your cooperation.The Guard is dedicated to protecting the Line.They sacrifice their original genetic makeup to prepare for their duty.”

Ess stood upright, as did Queen Cassalia.“All right.It’s a deal.Let’s shake on it.”

The queen took Ess’s hand and shook, and the two embraced.“Thank you,” Cassalia said.“I feel better already.”

“Now I feel absolutely overpacked!” Ess exclaimed.“If you’re gonna be a bounty hunter, you have to travel light, I’d imagine.”

“We’ll keep your bags in the Tower,” Cassalia said.“We’ll have you attending a royal ball come hell or high water.”

“I guess that’s really up to me,” Ess said, and snapped her fingers.“Excuse me!” She said to the nearest attendant.“I’ll be going back to my ship.Make sure it’s ready by the time I get there!”

“Yes, Madam Ess!” The attendant stammered, and scattered.

She turned to the queen and winked at her as she moved toward the room doorway.

“Now let’s see if your future King will fall in line just as easily.”


End file.
